JPH06284254A - Fax machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a facsimile equipment capable of reading various originals at various locations and extremely high in the latitude of reading. CONSTITUTION:A hand scanner 2 has an IC card loading section 24 supporting an IC card 4 to be freely loaded/unloaded, and picture data generated by a read section 21 and a picture processing section 22 are written on the IC card 4 loaded to the IC card loading section 24 by an IC card interface section 23. Moreover, the facsimile equipment main body 1 has an IC card loading section 11 supporting the IC card 4 to be freely loaded/unloaded and picture data stored in the IC card 4 loaded into the IC card loading section 11 are read by the IC card interface section and used for transmission processing by a coding section 13 and a MODEM 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus for reading an original by using a hand scanner which is separate from the main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A hand scanner has the advantage that it has a high degree of freedom in reading regardless of the type of original, because the reading image can be read if the device can be moved over the read image. Therefore, the facsimile device equipped with this hand scanner can be used in a convenient manner such as reading and transmitting an image of one page of a book.

Conventionally, in a facsimile apparatus having such a hand scanner, the hand scanner and the main body are connected by a cable in order to transmit an image signal from the hand scanner to the main body of the facsimile apparatus. Therefore, the use range of the hand scanner is limited to a very narrow range. Also, because of the connection cable, the operability of the hand scanner was poor.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional facsimile apparatus, since the hand scanner and the facsimile apparatus main body are connected via the connection cable,
I was not able to make full use of the feature of the hand scanner, which has a high degree of freedom in reading.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to read various originals at various places, and the degree of freedom of reading is very high. It is to provide an expensive facsimile machine.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a facsimile apparatus main body and a hand scanner separate from the facsimile apparatus main body,
In the hand scanner, a separate storage medium such as an IC card is detachably supported by a first mounting means such as an IC card mounting portion, and the storage medium mounted on the first mounting means is generated. Writing means for writing image data, such as an IC card interface section, and a second mounting means such as an IC card mounting section for detachably supporting the storage medium in the facsimile apparatus main body; (2) The image data stored in the storage medium mounted on the mounting means is read as image data to be transmitted, for example, a reading means such as an IC card interface section.

[0007]

By taking such a means, the image data generated by the hand scanner is written by the writing means in the storage medium mounted in the first mounting means. Then, in the facsimile apparatus main body, if the storage medium in which the image data is written is mounted in the second mounting means,
The image data stored in the storage medium mounted on the mounting unit is read by the reading unit as image data to be transmitted. Therefore, the image data generated by the hand scanner can be given to the facsimile apparatus main body without connecting the facsimile apparatus main body and the hand scanner with a cable or the like.

[0008]

(First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of the facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment.

As shown in these figures, the facsimile apparatus of this embodiment comprises a facsimile apparatus main body 1 and a hand scanner 2 separate from the facsimile apparatus main body 1.

The hand scanner 2 includes a reading section 21, an image processing section 22, an IC card interface section (IC card IF
Section) 23, IC card mounting section 24, scanner control section 25
And an operation button section 26.

The reading section 21 has, for example, a CCD line sensor, and when the hand scanner 2 is manually moved on the original 3, the original 3 is read by the CCD line sensor for each predetermined movement amount. An electric signal corresponding to the image formed on is generated. The image processing unit 22 performs predetermined image processing such as binarization processing on the electrical signal generated by the reading unit 21 to obtain image data.

The IC card interface section 23 writes the image data output from the image processing section 22 into a flash EEPROM incorporated in the IC card 4 mounted in the IC card mounting section 24.

The IC card mounting portion 24 detachably holds the IC card 4 inserted through the IC card insertion hole 24a, and the electric circuit and I incorporated in the IC card 4
The C card interface unit 23 is electrically connected.

The scanner control unit 25 includes the hand scanner 2
This is the overall control of the operation of. The operation button section 2
Reference numeral 6 is for the operator to input various instructions to the scanner control unit 25.

On the other hand, the facsimile apparatus main body 1 includes an IC card mounting section 11, an IC card interface section (IC card IF section) 12, an encoding section 13, a modem 14, a facsimile control section (FAX control section) 15, an operating section 16 and The display unit 17 is used.

The IC card mounting portion 11 detachably holds the IC card 4 inserted through the IC card insertion hole 11a, and the IC card 4 and an electric circuit built in the IC card 4.
The C card interface unit 12 is electrically connected.

The IC card interface section 12 is an IC
The image data written in the flash EEPROM incorporated in the IC card 4 mounted in the card mounting portion 11 is read. The encoding unit 13 compresses and encodes the image data supplied from the IC card interface unit 12 in a predetermined encoding format and converts it into transmission data. The modem 14 modulates the transmission data output from the encoding unit 13 and sends it to the telephone line 5. The facsimile controller 15 controls the facsimile apparatus main body 1 as a whole.

The operation unit 16 is used by the operator to input various instructions to the facsimile control unit 15. The display unit 17 is for displaying various messages to the user.

Next, the operation of the facsimile apparatus configured as described above will be described. First, in the hand scanner 2, the scanner control unit 25 performs the following processing. That is, when the IC card 4 is not mounted in the IC card mounting portion 24, the IC card 4 is waiting for mounting (step 2a in FIG. 3). IC card 4
Is mounted on the IC card mounting section 24,
The system waits for any one of the removal of the C card 4, the instruction to clear the memory, and the designation of the reading mode (steps 2b to 2d).

When reading, the user inserts the IC card 4 into the IC card mounting portion 24 of the hand scanner 2.
After mounting, the memory clear is instructed by pressing a predetermined button of the operation button unit 26 as necessary.
In this case, the scanner control unit 25 clears the contents of the flash EEPROM incorporated in the IC card 4 (step 2e).

After that, the user specifies the reading mode by pressing a predetermined button in the operation button section 26, and then moves the hand scanner 2 on the original 3 in a predetermined direction.

At this time, the scanner control section 25 responds to the designation of the reading mode by reading processing (step 2).
f) is started. This reading process causes the reading unit 21 to perform a reading operation, and causes the image processing unit 22 to perform image processing on the electric signal output by the reading unit 21. Then, the reading unit 21 and the image processing unit 22 perform well-known reading operation and image processing to generate image data.

Subsequently, the scanner controller 25 sends the generated image data to the flash EEP built in the IC card 4.
It is written in the ROM by the IC card interface unit 23 (step 2g).

Then, the scanner control section 25 repeats the above steps 2f and 2g until the end of reading one page is designated, and the operation button section 2 by the user is repeated.
When the end of reading is designated by pressing a predetermined button of 6, the process ends and the process returns to the standby state.

When transmitting a document in which the corresponding image data is written in the IC card 4 as described above, the user takes out the IC card 4 from the hand scanner 2 and mounts it on the facsimile apparatus main body 1. The transmission is instructed by mounting it on the unit 11 and performing a predetermined instruction operation on the operation unit 16.

In the facsimile apparatus main body 1, the facsimile controller 15 performs the following processing. That is, when the IC card 4 is not mounted in the IC card mounting portion 11, the IC card 4 is waiting for mounting (step 1a in FIG. 4). Further, when the IC card 4 is mounted on the IC card mounting portion 11, the IC
It waits for an instruction to remove or send the card 4 (step 1b, step 1c). Thus IC
When the IC card 4 is mounted in the card mounting unit 11 and transmission is instructed by the operation unit 16, the facsimile control unit 15 outputs the image data stored in the flash EEPROM of the mounted IC card 4 to the IC. The card interface unit 12 reads the data (step 1d) and performs a transmission process for transmitting the image data (step 1e). This transmission process is a well-known process, and the image data output from the IC card interface unit 12 is encoded into an MR code by the encoding unit 13 and then modulated by the modem 14 and transmitted to the telephone line 5. Is.

Then, the facsimile control unit 15 repeats the above-described processing of steps 1d and 1e until the transmission of all the image data is completed, and when the transmission is completed, the processing is terminated and returns to the standby state.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the image data generated by the hand scanner 2 can be given to the facsimile apparatus main body 1 while the facsimile apparatus main body 1 and the hand scanner 2 are not connected. , Can be sent from the facsimile apparatus body 1 to the telephone line 5. Therefore, the hand scanner 2 can be used at any place regardless of the installation place of the facsimile apparatus main body 1. Further, since the hand scanner 2 is completely independent, its operability is extremely good.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of the facsimile apparatus according to this embodiment. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the figure, 6 is a facsimile apparatus main body.
The facsimile apparatus main body 6 has substantially the same structure as the facsimile apparatus main body 1 in the first embodiment,
Only the IC card interface unit 12 and the encoding unit 13
The difference lies in that the decoding unit 61 is interposed between and.

Reference numeral 7 is a hand scanner. The hand scanner 7 also has substantially the same configuration as the hand scanner 2 in the first embodiment, but only the encoding unit 71 is provided between the image processing unit 22 and the IC card interface unit 12.
Are different in that they intervene.

Thus, in the hand scanner 7, the reading unit 2
1 and the image data generated by the image processing unit 22 is compression-encoded by the encoding unit 71 and then written on the IC card 4 by the IC card interface unit 23.

On the other hand, in the facsimile apparatus main body 6, the image data read from the IC card 4 by the IC card interface unit 12 is once decoded by the decoding unit 61, and then is coded by the coding unit 13 according to the destination. Is encoded into.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since compressed image data is written in the IC card 4, more image data can be written in one IC card 4.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the IC is used as the storage medium.
I use cards, but memory cards, magnetic disks,
It may be another medium such as an optical disk or a magnetic tape.

Further, in the above embodiment, the image data read from the IC card 4 is immediately transmitted in the facsimile apparatus main body 1. However, it may be transmitted once it is stored in its own memory. Good. In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0037]

According to the present invention, a facsimile apparatus main body and a hand scanner separate from the facsimile apparatus main body are provided, and a separate storage medium such as an IC card is attached to and detached from the hand scanner. A first mounting means, such as an IC card mounting section, which is supported as much as possible; and a writing section, such as an IC card interface section, for writing the generated image data in a storage medium mounted on the first mounting section Further, in the facsimile apparatus main body, a second mounting means, such as an IC card mounting portion, which detachably supports the storage medium, and image data stored in the storage medium mounted in the second mounting means, Since a reading means such as an IC card interface unit for reading as image data to be transmitted is provided, various originals can be read at various places. It is, the degree of freedom of reading is very high facsimile apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of the facsimile apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a scanner control unit 25 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a facsimile control unit 15 in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 6 ... Facsimile apparatus main body 11 ... IC card mounting section 12 ... IC card interface section (IC card IF
13) Encoding unit 14 ... Modem 15 ... Facsimile control unit (FAX control unit) 16 ... Operation unit 17 ... Display unit 61 ... Decoding unit 2, 7 ... Hand scanner 21 ... Reading unit 22 ... Image processing unit 23 ... IC Card interface (IC card IF
24) IC card mounting section 25 ... Scanner control section 26 ... Operation button section 71 ... Encoding section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hand scanner for generating image data corresponding to an image formed on a document, and a facsimile apparatus main body which is separate from the hand scanner and transmits the image data generated by the hand scanner. And a writing unit for writing the generated image data on a storage medium mounted on the first mounting unit, the first mounting unit detachably supporting a separate storage medium on the hand scanner. A second mounting means for detachably supporting the storage medium, and image data stored in the storage medium mounted on the second mounting means should be transmitted to the facsimile apparatus main body. A facsimile apparatus comprising: a reading unit for reading as image data.